Ceja

The Penal Code specifies that a defendant may not be convicted of stealing and receiving the same property. (Pen. Code, § 496, subd. (a).) In this case, the trial court failed to instruct on this point, and the jury convicted defendant of both petty theft and receiving the property he had stolen. A divided Court of Appeal reversed the petty theft conviction. The majority reasoned that the “greater” felony offense of receiving stolen property took precedence over the “lesser” misdemeanor theft offense.

Section 496(a) itself is inconclusive as to which conviction should stand when a defendant is erroneously convicted of theft and receiving stolen property. However, the rule against dual convictions, which was in effect long before its codification in 1992, is based on the premise that a theft conviction operates as a bar to a receiving conviction. California courts have consistently reversed the conviction on the receiving charge in cases of improper dual convictions. Because the Legislature gave no indication it meant to change this established practice, we conclude that it continues to apply under section 496(a). Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Court of…